Italian PM Giorgia Meloni Splits From Partner After Off-Air Lewd Comments

The TV journalist was earlier criticised for his comments, interpreted by many as “victim-blaming.”

Italian Prime Minister, Giorgia Meloni, on Friday, announced that she has parted ways with her long-time television journalist partner, Andrea Giambruno.

This announcement came hours after a TV show broadcast the journalist making raunchy remarks to female colleagues off-air, grabbing his genitals while expressing romantic interest.

In the broadcast in which he appeared to be flirting with a female colleague, Mr Giambruno made the statement “You’re so clever. Why didn’t I meet you before?.”

Subsequent broadcasts revealed him gloating about an affair, saying “everyone” at Mediaset, the TV company he works for knows about it. He then proceeds to make lewd references to group sex to female colleagues. “Will you join our group, our working group?” he asks.

In her widely circulated social media posts, Ms Meloni acknowledged their long-term relationship, thanking her now estranged partner for the “wonderful years” they spent together.

“My relationship with Andrea Giambruno, which lasted almost ten years, ends here. I thank him for the wonderful years we spent together, for the difficulties we went through, and for giving me the most important thing in my life, which is our daughter Geneva,” she wrote.

Ms Giambruno is infamous for making provocative comments that beckon the commentary of the Prime Minister. The TV journalist was earlier criticised for his comments interpreted by many as “victim-blaming.”

“If you go dancing you have every right to get drunk,” he said. “But if you avoid getting drunk and losing consciousness, maybe you would also avoid getting into specific problems because that’s when you find the wolf,” he said

To that, the Italian Prime Minister insisted that his words were misinterpreted and asked reporters not to hold her accountable “for what a journalist says while doing his job.”

However, in her recent post, she explicitly acknowledged their varied paths, stating “Our paths have diverged for some time and the time has come to acknowledge it.”